Can New Muslims Hold the Qur’an and Recite from It During Prayer?

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Question: Is it allowed for those who are recent reverts (or not hafiz), to hold the Quran in their hands and recite it from there in Salat? Are there different rulings for this between fardh & nawafil salah?

Answer: In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Walaikum assalam,

In the Hanafi school, as mentioned in Maraqi al-Falah and the Hashiya of Ibn Abidin, it is prohibitively disliked (makruh tahriman) to hold the Qur’an in the prayer and recite from it.

For recent converts, the scholars explain that the following must be kept in mind:

1. The obligatory (fard) recitation is only one verse of the Qur’an. It is necessary (wajib) to recite the Fatiha and the equivalent of 3 short verses in any two rakats of the prayer. It is also necessary to make this necessary recitation in the first two rakats. [Durr]
2. The necessary (wajib) may be omitted for legally-valid excuses, which include one being a new Muslim.
3. As such, they should ideally be told to recite a short verse (e.g. “Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad”), which most are able to do. It would be necessary for them to take reasonable means to learn that which is necessary (wajib) to recite. Until then, they would be legally excused from having to recite the Fatiha or anything else.
4. It is important to emphasize the while it is imperative for new converts to be taught the simple, proper outward fiqh of worship, it is just as imperative that they gain an appreciation of the spiritual significance, importance, and benefits of our worship.

As Sidi Ibn Ata’illah explains, “Actions are lifeless forms whose souls are the secret of sincerity in them.”

More importantly, the Beloved Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace, and grant us true love of him) reminded us, for we are given to forget, “Allah does not look at your wealth or forms. Rather, He looks at your hearts and actions.”

Wassalam,

Faraz Rabbani.